Vehicles, such as trucks, tractors for semi trucks or passenger cars, are often provided with a bumper having a central opening or other opening that permits air to flow into lower regions of an engine compartment for cooling purposes. These vehicles typically have a grill positioned over the large central opening at the front of the vehicle. The grill includes a plurality of slats or other static structures that are spaced apart from one another to yield grill openings that allow the admission of air through the grill, into the front opening, and into the vehicle engine compartment to provide engine cooling.
These grill openings, although desirable for admitting air for engine cooling and other purposes such as HVAC, also add to the drag of the vehicle. That is, air enters the grill openings rather than being deflected along the aerodynamically contoured surfaces of the vehicle. This increased drag results in fuel usage inefficiencies (e.g., increased fuel consumption). As efforts to increase fuel economy have increased, some systems have been developed that provide for adjustment of the exterior vehicle grill to control air flow under varying conditions (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,498,926).
While these systems provide increased fuel economy, they still suffer some disadvantages. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a vehicle grill that improves over these systems in both function and aesthetics.